Dark Ace's Really Bad Days
by AerrowLover
Summary: Some people have a bad day. Others may have two. A few have three.... But Dark Ace, he has so many, they're categorised: Bad Days and Really Bad Days. This is a collecton of one-shots from the Really Bad Days. Welcome to his world.
1. In sickness and in health

**Author's Note: Well, here we have it- a new series of one shots! YAY!**

**This is inspired by Debbie418uk2's work "Rodney's Really Bad Days" and Tenshi of Light21's work "John's Really Bad Days." If you love Stargate: Atlantis then I would urge you to read them, they are so good!**

**This is basically going to hopefully be a series of one-shots with Dark Ace having, funny enough, bad days….**

**Warning: Um, swearing, violence and sickness. Yup, the good ol' threesome.**

* * *

When he sneezed, he felt his whole body move. When he coughed, he felt his whole body, plus the bed he was currently lying on, shudder violently. His head pounded with an intensity he had never experienced before and he had a murderously sore throat. Oh, and did he mention how feverish he felt? Well, he felt feverish. Very feverish.

Basically, he felt, looked and even sounded like death warmed up.

"I am going to kill whoever gave me this, that is if they're not dead already…" he coughed halfway through the sentence, his entire body convulsing before going limp. It was becoming a regular pattern, and it was annoying him like hell. He coughed violently again, and his head continued to pound away, a relentless drumming that was agony.

He tossed and turned from side to side in his bed, trying to find a spot that was cool, but not succeeding. He was still too warm, even though there were no blankets left on the bed and all that remained was a bare mattress.

The pain in his head grew with every movement and eventually became so bad that he was forced to stop moving and still motionless.

Yes, ask your question: Why was the Dark Ace like this, and what had made him so sick?

* * *

It had been a simple, routine mission given to him by Master Cyclonis. All that was required of him to do was to fly to Terra Saharr and travel to the middle of the Terra, where the biggest desert is. Then, he was to send a group of Talon workers in, make them dig and then… Voila! A new crystal mine.

The Master had told him that she had been researching the Terra's deserts extensively and was confidant that there would be a mine located in the biggest desert, somewhere beneath its shifting sands and dunes. All they had to do was look. Something she believed would not challenge them too much, she thought. Dark Ace had seen – no, _felt_ – the barb in that sentence. Just because he had yet to put down the Storm Hawks for once and for all…

So, he had found the mine, and was heading back to the main part of the Terra. He saw several skimmers ahead of him and had told the closest Talons to him to go and check them out, while he reported to Master Cyclonis of their findings and about the mine itself.

The next thing that he knew, all the Talons had flown back to him at top speed, yelling and shouting incoherently. When he had asked just exactly why they were screaming fit to burst, they had simply pointed to the three skimmers that he had ordered them to go to and look at. They refused to say more, but continued to run around like a batch of headless chickens.

"This had really better be good," he had growled at them, before going over to the skimmers himself. He had then launched into a blistering session of swearing, in both Cyclonian and Admosian as he made his way over to the skimmers. He noticed that none of the Talons went with him.

But hey, that was nothing new.

When he had reached the skimmers, what he saw shocked even him.

There were five people, well, three living people and two who appeared to be dead, either sitting or lying on the skimmers.

"What the hell is going on here?" he had politely asked, glaring at them in frustration, "this is a restricted area. Civilians should not be here. So kindly state your reason for trespassing and perhaps I may let you live."

The three living people merely continued coughing and sneezing, and looked deathly pale. The two still ones, the ones he took for dead, looked… Well, deathly.

One of the three living looked at him and cleared his throat. He didn't appear to be fazed that he was addressing an irate Dark Ace.

"There was a sickness which killed many, and which came down on us so suddenly…" he began, but a bout of coughing interrupted him. He waited until it had past before speaking again. His voice was raspy and quiet.

"We fled, but it was too late for our parents," he gestured to the two still figures.

"So I can see," The Dark Ace said dryly, forcing himself to rein in his temper.

"They died on the journey we made from our home settlement. My brothers and I are sick; we guess that we will soon be dead. So if I were you, I would go now. We are contagious! It is not safe for you to be here with us, every second counts!" he pleaded, while his brothers coughed and nodded in agreement.

Dark Ace had stood there though, not moving an inch. He was not too sure of their story. Perhaps they were crystal thieves and had fabricated this entire story in order to clear the area, and allow them to rob it?

"When we told your Talons that, they ran! Why are you still here? This disease kills all that it infects! You must go… Now!" another one of the three piped up, looking shocked.

The Dark Ace refused to take notice. If they were indeed telling the truth, then he had to know all the details. After all, this could spread to Cyclonia.

"What Terra did you come from? Here? Or somewhere else?" he had quickly asked them.

"We are from a settlement to the west of here, so yes, we are from this terra. We were on our way to a relative who lives in the main city."

"What's become of your settlement?" Dark Ace continued with his questioning, fearing that he already knew what the answer would be.

And he was right.

"Everyone's dead. We burnt it down to try and stop the disease from spreading, but our parents still caught it somehow, and we in turn got it from them. We will stay here, to try and halt its spreading, but you must go now."

This time, Dark Ace took the advice and he took to his heels. His Talons were still shouting that they would die, and the noise of it made Dark Ace all the more pissed off.

"Shut up, you idiots! We have to get back to Cyclonia as quickly as possible to warn the people about this disease. Whoever is not in the air in the next minute will be left here alone." At his words, the Talons rushed about and were in the air in a few seconds.

The Dark Ace smiled to himself.

* * *

The journey to Cyclonia was long and hard. Out of twenty Talons that had gone with the Dark Ace to Terra Saharr, only ten remained. What had happened to the others? Well, some had become sick after leaving the terra and had died after a few hours, the rest however had been on their skimmers, had passed out and crashed.

Dark Ace would not admit it but he knew that he was sick too. He was coughing every few minutes, his vision was becoming blurry and he felt like this body was on fire. Cyclonia was thankfully just ahead of them, a minute or so away.

Flying down, he landed on the cleared airstrip and as he did so a Talon ran up to him.

"Commander Ace! Sir! You have to-" he broke off after Dark Ace grabbed him by the throat.

"Shut the hell up and listen. Tell the Master that we have a problem!"

The Talon may have replied, but the Dark Ace heard nothing. He had blacked out as soon as he had let go of the man's throat.

* * *

He stopped thinking about what had caused him to be sick. He had something bigger to think about.

He was getting worse.

His whole body was burning with fever, he couldn't drink or eat and he was sick every so often.

"And things can only get better…" he smiled sarcastically to himself. The Dark Ace allowed his weak and exhausted body to fall against the bare mattress. He knew his strength was waning.

* * *

As soon as he had collapsed, he had been carried to his room. While a doctor was seeing to him, the surviving Talons must have been summoned to the Master for her to find out what had happened because she had made her way to him. She had apparently wanted to speak with him but the doctor had forbidden it.

"Master, he is very sick; being delirious and not lucid enough to have a long conversation. Plus he is contagious! I would suggest, Master, that you round up any of the Talons that had been with him and-"

"They have all died," she had interrupted him in her cool, calm voice. "Now everyone who went to that Terra is dead, all apart from him. I want to see him."

"Master, I'm afraid that I cannot allow that." He was brave, this doctor. Not many can get away with standing up to Master Cyclonis.

She had narrowed her eyes and waited a moment. But eventually she had heeded his words and departed from the room.

* * *

That had taken place only a day ago, yet it felt like years to the Dark Ace.

The fever had slowly strengthened its grip on him, draining him of his energy. It caused him to have nightmares and hallucinations, such powerful and realistic things which had caused him to scream and cry out.

During one of his coughing spells, he had stopped only to find a smear of blood around his lips.

The Dark Ace chuckled grimly to himself. So this was it then. He was dying.

"Pity it hadn't had been in battle. A quick stab, some blood and a few famous last words…" he broke off with a wince as breathing suddenly became painful. The Dark Ace looked around the room which had been his for many years now, but as the fever had slowly taken over him he had began to imagine that he was somewhere else. His old room… On the Condor… Voices were calling to him, but he just... Couldn't… Answer…

He could no longer raise his head. No energy. He had last been able to move his arms and legs last night. He had lost that battle, and now he was losing the fight to keep his tired eyes open.

"So I die with no audience, then," he murmured with his dry sense of humour. He could never resist being overly-dramatic. Now it was to be the last thing he would do.

* * *

She didn't care what the doctor had to say. She only cared about seeing him.

She walked down to his apartments, and unlocked the doors. Just as she entered the room she watched his eyes close.

Master Cyclonis had heard the shouts and cries of pain that had come from this room last night. She had wanted to go down then but she knew that_ that_ doctor would have been snooping around, while she wanted to talk to Dark Ace alone. Now, even though it was night-time again, there was no one around and she could finally have her wish.

But she had not believed just how bad his condition was, not even after hearing him last night, until she saw him now, lying as still and as pale as a marble statue.

Was she too late?

The teen ruler of the Cyclonian Empire cursed herself for her weakness, which was at that moment fear, the fear of maybe being too late, and instead of worrying more she marched over to the bed. Determination showed with every stride she took.

He was so pale… She could see the blood around his mouth and on his chin. She placed a hand on his forehead and was shocked at the heat she felt radiating off it. Suddenly Dark Ace shuddered and opened his eyes. They were bright with fever and unseeing.

She didn't know what to do; but that had never stopped her before. She placed both of her hands on his face, holding him while he closed his eyes again and struggled against some unknown force.

Damn it, he was not going to die. Not if she had any say in it.

* * *

He had expected death, but was instead met with blackness.

Pain.

Fire.

Terrifying images of fire, smoke, blood, death and destruction where everywhere. Oh go away go away go away go away…

Then there was a cool hand at his face. He tried to open his eyes, but he could see nothing. He began to panic, to struggle, but that wonderfully cold hand was joined by another, soothing his burning face.

A voice spoke from somewhere.

"_You swore me an oath, Dark Ace! Remember? I swear to obey…"_

He couldn't hear anymore. The fire was back again. It was all over him, consuming him, burning him; while he could do nothing.

He sobbed, trying desperately to push it away; but it refused to go. He struggled…

But then the hands were back, stroking his hair and his forehead. They would keep back the fire; they would keep him safe.

He could faintly hear the crystal voice again over the furious roar in his mind.

"_No matter what may happen, I will serve you. In sickness and in health, I will serve you. Do you hear that? I expect you to be better soon, do you understand? I need you to serve me…" _The voice said, while the hands slowly stroked him.

His sobs of fear and pain had decreased, but he could hear a marching in his head. He cried out. They were after him…

But the hands would keep him safe…

* * *

Master Cyclonis could not; would not stand by hopelessly as her second-in-command fought desperately for his life.

She would remind him of his oath of allegiance to her. He was expected to serve her, regardless of anything else. It would make him get better; because hearing that he was needed would make him fight more.

She stroked his hair and forehead while he shivered and moaned, while he struggled and whimpered.

"You swore me an oath, Dark Ace! Remember? I swear to obey…" she started to say, but was interrupted when he suddenly sobbed and began to thrash around. Master Cyclonis fought to keep a hold on him. He felt much hotter than he had before; but maybe that was good. The fever needed to rise, before it would break.

She continued to keep her hands on his face whilst he sobbed and tossed around. She nearly lost her focused when she heard the man whimper – the Dark Ace, the scourge of Atmos, had never sounded so weak and vulnerable. It scared her then. But she wasn't the ruler of Cyclonia for nothing, and so forced herself to continue.

"No matter what may happen, I will serve you. In sickness and in health, I will serve you. Do you hear that? I expect you to be better soon, do you understand? I need you to serve me…"

Just when she thought she had him calmed down, he suddenly cried out. It was heartbreaking to hear and she was shocked that she actually felt moved by it.

It would be another long night, but she would be there for him, because he had always been there for her.

* * *

He struggled to open his eyes. It appeared to be morning, and Dark Ace was shocked to find that he was no longer on fire. Coughing slightly, he looked around. What he saw shocked him even more.

There was his Master, looking at him. Was he still dreaming, or was this for real?

"Knowing my luck, this is for real…" he muttered hoarsely to himself. He allowed his head to fall limply back against the mattress.

It had been one hell of a long night, but eventually she had won the battle.

His fever had finally broken, and after hours of crying and thrashing he had fallen asleep. She too had slept, but it had been only for an hour or so and had woken up swiftly afterwards.

She had been looking out of the window when she heard a weak cough. Master Cyclonis looked at Dark Ace, and to her relief, his eyes were open and they were clear… and this time they could see everything.

He looked up at her, shocked, and tried to sit up.

"No, sit down. That's an order." She said, seeing that he looked as if he was about to protest. He did as he was told.

"Is it really you, or is it a dream?" he whispered, his throat sounding hoarse.

She smirked at him. "I would like to think that this is all real, because if I were in a dream of yours, I'd hate to know what I would be doing."

He coughed, hiding a small smirk and rolled his eyes. " Have you been here long, Master?" The formal tone was back in his voice.

"I have been here all night." His eyes widened at that, and she permitted herself a small smile.

"It was you… You were there when - " he said as his dark red eyes widened in disbelief.

"Yes."

"I have to thank you Master. But you shouldn't have come near me; you could have fallen sick yourself, and then what would have happened? You could have died!" he started, but was soon cut off by a wave of a hand.

"I was fine. I was in no danger of dying; it was you. However, you eventually came to your senses and fought back. Now, you will have a day off but no more. Understood?" she said, looking at him with something like amusement in her violet eyes.

He grinned.

"_In sickness and in health, I shall serve you. _Well, I served you when I was sick, now I must get up and serve you when I'm healthy."

"Good. I expect to see you in my throne room in a hour." With that, the Master got up and walked out of the room.

Dark Ace smiled.

"Better get to it then…" he muttered, before getting up of the mattress.

It had been a hellish two days, three if you count the ride back to Cyclonia, but he was still here.

But he was only here because of his Master, and for some reason, the thought made him smile.

* * *

**Hopefully, I will have the next one-shot up in a day or two, and "Beginning of the End" will be updated in a day.**

**Dark Ace's days are just getting off to a bad start, wait and see what happens next!**


	2. Til death do we part

**Author's Note: Taa Daa! Chapter two friends! Sorry for having it up later than planned but it snowed where I live and life was pretty chaotic, and school was a mess… Plus I had a lot of homework and coursework to do and tests to revise for; but I managed to persevere and here I am... With more of Dark Ace's Really Bad Days! **

**So let's see what's happening today then, shall we…**

* * *

"Master, you asked to see me?" The Dark Ace said to the cloaked figure before him who had its back turned. He had just bowed and with his hand over his chest after having walked into the throne room moments before and had broken the silence which had been present with his words.

The Master stiffened, and turned around, looking at her second in command. She smiled.

"Ah, Dark Ace. You came on time, I see." She paused for a minute, while no longer looking at him but at her crystal staff. He waited, but he always had to ask himself why she was so fixated on time. Really. Why.

She turned her back on him, and for a moment it seemed that she had forgotten that he was even in the room.

This was actually the norm for occasions such as these.

The Dark Ace started to tap his foot ever so quietly, while counting in his head. When he had reached ten she turned round to him.

"Dark Ace, I have a mission for you."

"Yes, Master?" he asked. He really wasn't all that interested, but if it got him out of Cyclonia for a while…

Life was becoming unbearable here- Ravess being a bitch, Snipe being…well, Snipe, the Talons being more idiotic than usual and then Master Cyclonis herself, being either in a foul mood or a weirdly happy mood.

The Dark Ace snorted. Teenagers. He was so glad that that little chapter of life was closed in his book.

He looked at the Master. Luckily she hadn't noticed him snorting, but he really must pay more attention in future though, even if it was to something boring.

"Yes. A mission. Fairly simple and straightforward. I have a shipment of crystals arriving from Terra Tundras and I want you there on the cruiser carrying them." The Master said, examining a crystal as she spoke.

She saw that Dark Ace looked confused. "There is a problem?"

"I've gone from aerial dog fighter to bodyguard of crystals so quickly I believe I'll get a nosebleed! Master, crystal protecting?" he snapped, starting to feel angry. She was giving all the shit missions to him now? Was this some kind of joke? "There's Snipe, he's been here in Cyclonia for a few days."

"You know I cannot send Snipe," the Master said with a curl of her lip at the name, "of on a mission like this. If anything was to happen to that shipload of crystals, with him in charge…" she broke off, shuddering. "No, I want it to be you. These crystals are important; they are special. They are also extremely rare so I believe that the sooner I get them here, the better. If someone like, say a Storm Hawk," here she paused, looking at the Dark Ace who glared at the name, "managed to get their hands on them… that's why I want you to be there. Understand?" she said, putting down the crystal that she had been examining and replacing it with another one.

The Dark Ace was inwardly seething but his face showed none of it. At least he was getting out of Cyclonia, but if Ravess got word of what he was doing, god she would make his life a living hell.

"Understood, Master." he said, bowing. He walked to the door but before he could open the door, her cool voice called to him.

"And Dark Ace?"

"Yes?"

"I don't want to hear of you losing to a child Sky Knight again…" she paused, allowing the words to sink in before speaking again, "If I do, I will be most displeased, especially if you lose my crystals…" She turned her back on him again, while he was silently cursing in his head.

"I get it Master. It won't happen." With that he walked out of the room, wishing to put as much distance as he could between him and Master Cyclonis. Who seemed to have been taking lessons from Ravess. He groaned. He didn't need another bitchy woman in his life at this point in time.

"Better get this over with…" he sighed, walking through the hallway to get to his skimmer.

* * *

The journey to Terra Tundras had been oddly relaxing. Maybe it was because he could shout and swear as much as he wanted and no one was there to hear him. But at least it got his anger out. That's a start, right?

Now, however he could feel it building up again with him being surrounded by Talons. He watched them rushing around, lugging crates of crystals -which, when he saw them, reminded him why he was there and made him all the more mad- and ordering the exhausted and sweating workers to dig more and more.

After half an hour of this, the Dark Ace was fit to burst, so he wasn't in the best of moods to talk with the Talon who approached him.

"Commander Ace, sir." The Talon said, before continuing, "I came to let you know that we are ready to depart. Everything needed is onboard; all we need is for you to give the order to depart, sir." he finished, waiting.

The Dark Ace was surprised. Here was a Talon that could make sense and did so without shouting. He looked at the Talon, who had a long scar on his face. This Talon was, so far, the only one who seemed suited to the task that he was currently undertaking. These crystals must be important to Master Cyclonis after all.

The Dark Ace nodded. "Well, this is me giving you the order: Depart at once. I'll follow on behind the cruiser.

The Talon nodded at his words but he asked "You are not coming on board, sir?"

"No. I prefer to be out there, so that if something does try to attack us, then I don't have to waste time getting ready and flying out. I can go straight for the attack." he finished with a smirk.

The Talon was looking at him.

"Oh, don't you have a ship to command?" Dark Ace asked him irritably. "The Master wants these crystals as soon as possible, and hanging around here won't do us any favours, so get going!"

Watching the Talon go, he walked over to his skimmer. As soon as he got back to Cyclonia, he was flying out again. This time by himself, and he could fly for as long as he wanted, maybe shooting down a Sky Knight or two. Heaven.

But first to get this out of the way…

He swore again, while getting on his Switchblade Elite and turning it on.

Life seriously sucked.

The cruiser was taking off and as soon as it was in the air then he would follow. He watched as the huge carrier ship soared effortlessly through the air.

Time to go.

* * *

They had been flying for almost an hour now and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The Dark Ace was surprisingly not cursing but humming to himself when he heard his radio crackle.

Sighing, he picked it up. It was probably another check in, which had been going on every fifteen minutes.

"_Dark Ace, sir?" _A Talon's voice could be heard through the static.

"_Yes, what is it? Another check in?" _he said, before a thought suddenly struck him - it couldn't be fifteen minutes since the last one already…

"_No, this time its different, sir. We're picking up a frequency from just behind us-"_

"_And you're only telling me this now?" _The Dark Ace angrily interrupted.

"_Sir, that's the problem- we've only just picked it up now. Who or whatever is behind us is moving extremely fast!" _The Talon sounded frantic with worry.

"_Okay, okay- I get it." _Dark Ace said, looking behind him.

"_I don't see anything yet but if I do I'll radio in. Same with you lot. Radio if you get more info." _He said quickly, while he was still looking around him. There was nothing; well nothing yet.

"_Yes sir, will do!" _The Talon said. He may have said more but he was interrupted.

"_I've got a visual." _And indeed in he had_. "These guys do move fast, so be careful."_ The Dark Ace said, turning his skimmer around. For he had caught sight of who was following them…

"_Who is it? Can you see, sir?"_

He grinned. Time to meet another old enemy…

"_Yes. It's a gang of Murk Raiders. Leave me to it; but if their ship appears you fire at will. Only a few skimmers here at the minute, but be ready for anything." _With these words he turned the radio off and flew towards the group ahead of him.

"Only five of you? I better go easy then." He said with a smirk. They were heading towards him now. Fast.

He took out his energy blade and watched as it glowed red. He looked ahead as five energy blades lit up with a purple glow. Five blasts were fired at him. The Dark Ace blocked them all with lighting speed, and could not help but laugh. This was what he was meant to do; what he enjoyed doing.

Five more came at him. Again he blocked them.

He was close enough now to see the ugly faces of the Sky Pirates, who were no longer grinning at the sight of him.

"Look who it is, boys! The Dark Ace!" One called out to the sound of laughter. "Not with your "Master", we see! She ain't wantin' her bitch around her no more?" he called out again. They laughed once more but soon stopped when they saw that Dark Ace was smiling rather evilly at them.

"Come on now… That's the best you lot can come up with?" He said. "Let's crank this up a notch…"

He raised his energy blade and fired a stream of shots at the closest pirate to him, watching in grim amusement as they all hit their mark, as usual. The pirate fell, screaming all the way. His skimmer which was in pieces fell with him.

One down. Four to go.

The rest of the pirates growled at the Dark Ace.

"He killed him!" one screamed.

"Get him!" another shouted.

"Kill him!" a third yelled.

"Don't just stay there, go!" a fourth, the apparent leader, growled.

The Dark Ace whirled his blade around in a circle with one hand before grinning.

"Come one, come all!" he shouted back at them in return. He could never resist being over-dramatic.

They fired four energy blasts at him, which were all blocked easily.

"Is that still all you can do?" he laughed. He fired his own series of shots back, before swooping around to avoid another blast at him.

The closest pirate to him raced towards him; energy blade sending out several blasts. Dark Ace flew at him, weaving his way the shots and fired back. The pirate managed to dodge all but the last one which smashed into his skimmer. Dark Ace flew towards the unfortunate pirate and stabbed the skimmer with his energy blade. The pirate fell.

Two down, three to go.

The leader of the lot fired at him. Dark Ace blocked it and fired back, but the other remaining two pirates, after a nod from their leader charged at him. He avoided the shot sent at him by those two and fired back, swerving to avoid more blasts from the leader. They flew even closer to him.

He leapt of his own skimmer and landed neatly onto one their own. He struck that one sending it and its unlucky owner to the Wastelands.

Three down. Two to go.

The leader charged at him now with a shout of anger and he leapt of the falling skimmer and landed on the leader's instead.

The leader raised his blade and Dark Ace raised his own and blocked the move. They began to duel fiercely, sending out bright sparks of energy. The leader was heavier than Dark Ace; stockier, but that put him at a disadvantage. Dark Ace was quicker. Unbelievably so.

He stabbed the leader in the chest, who then slumped over. Dark Ace leapt of the skimmer and back on his own.

Four down, one to go.

He leapt into the air, held his blade behind his head, closed his eyes and felt the energy build up. He brought his blade forward again and released the energy.

He chuckled to himself. His Sky Knight move sure came in handy. He watched as the massive blast of energy sent the remaining pirate to his demise.

The Dark Ace grinned. All done.

He steered his Switchblade Elite around and was just about to radio the Cruiser ahead of him when he heard the unmistakable sound of another skimmer to the left of him. He turned, blade at the ready but, for the first time, he was too late.

The leader of the pirates, covered in blood and a maniacal grin, raised his energy blade with a shaking hand and with a swift movement stabbed him.

The Dark Ace felt the metal pierce through his stomach and he yelled in pain. Already he could feel a dampness around the wound. And the pain…

He quickly picked up his own blade and hacked at the pirate who once again slumped over but this time would remain so. Dark Ace slashed through the skimmer and watched it fall down.

The pirate blade was still sticking through his stomach; but after he carefully felt his back it was clear that he was lucky - it hadn't gone the whole way through.

He flew towards the cruiser, trying his best to remain upright and to keep his eyes open.

"This had to be my day… being stabbed to protect crystals…" he muttered faintly. He was nearly there.

He landed on the cruiser and shakily made his way off the seat, which was damp with blood. His blood. He stumbled, and slowly walked over to the doors. He managed to get through them but everything was going blurry…

He grabbed onto the door frame to remain upright. Everything was spinning…

A Talon ran over to him.

"Commander, Master Cyclonis wishes to speak with you!" He evidently hadn't seen the blade sticking out of him yet.

"Tell her… I'm a… little pre-occupied right now…" he replied, breathing heavily. He could hear how weak he sounded.

The Talon, who Ace recognised as the one who knew what to do looked at him.

"Sir? Are you alright?" he asked the commander, who appeared to grin faintly. The commander who then turned around so that the blade could be seen. The Talon gasped.

"I'm grand…" he rasped, before collapsing on the floor. He could hear the Talon shouting for a medic before he drifted into unconsciousness.

* * *

When he came to, he was on a bed. Somewhere. A medic was hovering near him.

"Dark Ace? Can you hear me?" he was asked.

"All too well, unfortunately…" came the reply. "How long was I out?"

"Around five minutes."

The pain was building up again. Damn it hurt…

"I'm afraid that we can give you nothing for the pain sir, because of the wound." the medic told him. Helpful, as always.

"Well, that's great, but can you get this lovely little thing out of me?" Ace tersely asked, biting his lip so that he would not cry out at the agony the "thing" was causing him.

"Sir, because of where the blade is, pulling it out would result in massive internal as well as external bleeding…" the medic broke off.

"So basically, taking it out will kill me." Dark Ace said bluntly.

"Yes" was the response.

"So," Ace said, not speaking to the medic but to the blade, "it's a case of "'til death do us part", I take it. Okay," he said, this time to the medic, "I heard that the Master wanted to talk to me."

The medic gaped. "At a time like this-" he started, but on seeing the look the Dark Ace threw at him, he changed tact and instead said "Yes. She heard of the attack and wanted to talk to you afterwards, but now-"

"She knows?" was the interruption.

"Yes. I believe that she is still waiting for an update on the situation, so shall I give you a minute?"

Ace nodded.

The medic went over to the other side of the room and carried over the telephone-like device. He picked up the receiver and started to speak, but the Dark Ace didn't listen but instead concentrated on breathing without causing himself anymore pain to endure. Suddenly the receiver was handed over to him.

"She wants to speak to you." The medic said to him.

The Dark Ace reached for the receiver, ignoring the sudden burst of pain in his stomach as he did so, and held it up.

"Master?" he whispered. Once again he heard how weak his voice sounded. He hated it.

"Dark Ace. I heard what happened. What can they do?" Came the cool, calm, collected voice of Master Cyclonis.

He chuckled. "Nothing. Pulling out the blade means I bleed to death, so nothing is the answer."

There was a pause.

"And if you don't pull it out?"

"I die anyway, but it will take longer."

"Dark Ace, is there no way that you can pull it out and they could stitch you up straight away?"

He looked at the medic, who shook his head.

"Master, if the Dark Ace pulled it out there would be a slim chance that we could, but we wouldn't really have enough time to do so. The blood flow itself-"

"But there is a chance?" the Master cut through the medic's words.

He sighed. "Maybe. A very slim one."

"Then do it. That's an order."

"Master-" the medic was interrupted.

"Dark Ace, I order you to pull it out."

The Dark Ace grinned, albeit weakly. "Master, you read my mind."

"Dark Ace, this will not work!" The medic burst out, looking horrified.

He shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is I don't want to die slowly. I'd rather go quickly." he spoke into the receiver. "Master, incase this doesn't work-"

"It will. Do it." came the reply.

He took a deep breath and placed both hands around the blade.

"Here we go…" he muttered.

The medic had needles, thread and several other medical items at his disposal ready and waiting, as well as two other medics near him but he didn't look happy.

With a single bloody movement, he tugged the metal object out of him. This time he couldn't help it, a cry tore through his lips as the pain coursed through him.

Suddenly the medics were on him; one holding him down by the shoulders, the other two cleaning and starting to stitch up the heavily bleeding wound.

He screamed as he felt the sharp needle cut its path through his skin and at the feeling of the thread following. He kept biting his lips, so hard that blood began to flow. The medic holding him down held on tighter. He could see the pool of blood around his stomach…

It stung like hell…

He could feel himself slipping away…

"By Atmos, we're losing him! Hurry!" He could faintly hear the medic at his shoulders shout at the other two, but no more after that.

* * *

All that Master Cyclonis could hear was frantic shouts and cries of pain.

Was it working, or not? Was he dying? Had she only succeeded in killing him painfully instead of saving him?

Master Cyclonis paced around the room. She wanted, no she needed answers to her questions, and she needed them now.

* * *

The cruiser had arrived at Cyclonia, was what she was told an hour later.

She went down to the platform while Talons raced about; either unloading crates of crystals or refueling the ship itself. She didn't care about them; she only wanted to know what had happened.

She cursed. Where were those medics?

Suddenly a medic appeared in front of her. His face looked grave.

"Well?" was all she said, but all she received in reply was a "Come with me."

She was led to a room and on entering she saw the head medic whom he had spoken to on the communicator.

"Well? Will someone tell me what has happened? Is he alive or not?" Master Cyclonis said, her normally cool voice heating up.

The head medic stood up. "You may want to see him." She felt her heart stop at his words. See him? Alive or dead?

He opened a door and she followed him through it. Her heart suddenly began to beat again because there was the Dark Ace, lying on a bed, looking extremely pale with his eyes closed. He was hooked up to a blood drip and a heart monitor, and although his heart was beating quietly it was still beating.

He was alive.

"He lost an awful lot of blood, Master, and on several occasions we believed we were losing him, but he came back. He should come round soon, and then make a full recovery." the head medic said.

Master Cyclonis smiled. "Thank you." he bowed and left the room.

He was alive. He would recover.

She walked over to the still sleeping figure and whispered to him.

"I told you it would work. It wasn't a case of "'til death do us part", and it never will be." Having said those words she walked slowly to the door and departed.

* * *

Silence, save for the beeps of the monitor.

The Dark Ace opened his eyes.

"Yes, you were right." he murmured, fighting a losing battle with his eyes. "You are always right in the end."

Within seconds, his eyes were closed and he was asleep.

* * *

**Yay, another very long chapter, sorry! Hope you guys liked it anyway! It really is so much fun to beat up Dark Ace, really it is.**

**A big shout out to all the reviewers of this, and to anyone who added it as a favourite. Its means a lot, so a massive thank you from me! (And Dark Ace, so feel special.)**

**On to chapter three, then!**


	3. It's S'no Fun

**Hey guys, and welcome to Chapter three of Dark Ace's Really Bad Days. I have to say that I'm sorry 'cause I didn't post this earlier but I have been really busy at the moment, and that since I'm off school for a bit I can upload more, so its all good.**

**This chapter was inspired by the recent heavy snow here in Northern Ireland; even though it's all gone now… I can still torment Dark Ace with it!**

**Read and Enjoy!**

* * *

He was ready to murder someone. Again. As usual.

Of all the possible choices; of all the Talons he could have had to go with on this mission, the Master just has to go and pick her. Seriously, why? Why not even Snipe? Yes, the guy was as thick as two _very _short planks, but at least Snipe didn't try and get him engaged in verbal wars every five minutes!

Actually, make that every five seconds.

But no. He had to go to a far away Terra, involving a very long flight, and his company for it was Ravess.

"Are you feeling okay, oh mighty Commander? You look pale!" Ravess herself said to him with a wide grin. Oh god, she was loving this.

"Oh, I'm fine. This is what I've always wanted to do, you know, flying through a heavy blizzard of snow with you beside me! It's like Heaven!" he snarled back.

Her only reply was to laugh. He was going to kill her, he really was.

They were currently flying to Terra Eire, which was the last Terra they would find before going to Terra Anglica, where they had to do business but they had run into a snow blizzard, and a really heavy, windy one at that. It was getting worse by the minute, and their skimmers were becoming hard to control. The wind was pulling them off their course, and that was never good.

He heard a growl from Ravess and turned in his seat to face her. She appeared to be attacking the controls on her skimmer. Had she finally lost it?

When she screamed in anger at it, Dark Ace smiled to himself. Yes. She had now officially lost it.

"Was has that skimmer ever done to you to deserve such a beating? Did it reject you when you offered to take it out for a meal?" he said, laughing at the enraged expression on Ravess' face, and how it grew all the more angry at his words.

She was so easy to wind up…

"Shut up, you-" her words were simply tossed away by the heavy wind. That made the Dark Ace laugh all the more. Her face at the moment was priceless.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that last bit, sweetheart. Care to repeat it?" he asked her with a grin.

Ravess looked murderous. "Never call me that, you bloody fool! Call me it again and I will shove an arrow up your ass so hard that you will be walking around with a hunchback for the rest of your life." she glared at him when finishing her lovely speech.

It only made him laugh more, while he was fighting to keep control over his Switchblade. The wind was getting stronger and the snow was everywhere. He could barely see ahead of him; all he could see was whiteness.

"_Sweetheart_," He put emphasis on the word, "Do that, and I will simply ram my blade down your throat and then it will come out of _your_ ass, and then you won't able to sit down for the rest of your life. Ergo, let us be friends." he said with a evil grin.

Ravess responded with a well known hand gesture.

"Oh, touchy. I know you love me really." He said, trying to hide the fact he was shivering with cold. The temperature must be around -6, surely…

She replied with another well-known hand gesture, while her hand shook with the cold.

Before the Dark Ace could say anything else, the wind suddenly howled even more loudly than what it had been doing so for the past half hour. The snow falls seemed to increase, the temperature seemed to decrease suddenly seemed to and next thing he knew was that his skimmer appeared to be freezing up.

He looked over at Ravess. The same thing appeared to have happened to her.

"Dark Ace! The skimmers have frozen!" She shouted as loudly as she could in an attempt to be heard over the howling wind and snow. She could barely see in front of her.

The Dark Ace rolled his eyes, to the best of his ability, as it is hard to do when you are squinting to stop snow from going in your eyes. The woman was a moron. It obviously ran in the family then.

"Well, thank you for that amazing statement, Captain Obvious. How would I have lived without knowing that!" he shouted back angrily. This can only get better, can't it… he thought to himself. Really…

"Stop being an idiot Ace, we have to try and get these things working again! If they freeze up completely, then…" she trailed off. Ravess actually surprised herself by not responding to the Dark Ace's taunts. She knew this was bad.

"We crash." Dark Ace said bluntly, ignoring the glare that Ravess threw over at him. Subtly had never been his strongest feature.

"Who's Captain Obvious now?"

"That's _Commander _Obvious to you."

It was Ravess' turn to roll her eyes. The man was unbearable. Not to mention stupid. Did he not realise what a dangerous position they were currently it?

She was about to yell at him some more when she noticed that her skimmer had currently just…stopped moving. She gulped. Not good.

The cold had finally managed to simply kill the engines; it was too much for them to cope with. She looked over at the Dark Ace. The same thing appeared to have happened to him as well.

"Well, this is great…" he said, looking over at her. "Just perfect."

It only went from bad to worse when the said skimmers suddenly started to fall through the sky.

"For the love of Atmos, could this get any worse?" Ravess screamed in anger. The fact that it was happening to her when the Dark Ace was her only companion only made her more frustrated and angrier.

"Well, it's not that bad… We're on an express elevator to hell- going down!" Dark Ace shouted over to the magenta-haired woman with a laugh. Her face when she heard him made him laugh more. Priceless.

"Are…you…insane?" She screamed back, "What are we going to do?"

"Firstly, I'm not insane." he said with a grin, "Secondly, we're going to have to make a jump for it, and just hope our parachutes work…" he yelled back. He looked down for a bit; all he could see was white, so he had no idea how fast they were heading to the ground below them or how close they were.

"If we make this jump, I swear to God I am never doing another mission with you!" Ravess called over to the man, climbing carefully out of her pilot's seat and heading around to the front of her skimmer, which was slippery with snow and ice. She shivered, but if it was with the cold or with the fear of what she was about to do, she had no idea.

"I second that!" Dark Ace replied, climbing out of his seat and also heading around to the front of his skimmer. He swore silently to himself. It was freezing. Absolutely freezing. He could feel his arms and legs shivering of their own accord. It was times like these were he wished he was fat. Well, it would keep him warm…

She looked over at him. "When do we jump?" She said, looking below her as she spoke. All she could see was white, nothing more.

The Dark Ace looked back, and shrugged. "I have no idea how fast were going to hit the ground at, so anytime, like right now would be a good time…" He could feel the air around him… The skimmers must be falling fast…

"Count of three?" He heard Ravess shout. He nodded.

"One…" he called over to her.

"Two…" she shouted back.

"Three!" he yelled, and with a deep breath, he leapt of the skimmer.

Ravess had also jumped her leap of faith at the word "Three," and on doing so she found herself falling through the air. Fast. Very fast.

All she could feel was the snow falling on her, the wind surrounding her and the cold biting her skin, with razor sharp teeth. She could see nothing, could hear nothing, but she could feel the parachute on back as it opened.

"Thank Atmos for that…" she gasped to herself.

Now, the only other thing left to accomplish was a safe landing.

And also to find Dark Ace.

She sighed. That was something she wasn't looking forward to. At all.

She suddenly crashed into a deep snowdrift; her vision went black, and she thought no more.

* * *

He couldn't see a damn thing, which made matters a tiny bit more complicated for him. When he had jumped, he didn't even know if Ravess had jumped at the same time and now had to worry if she would suddenly crash on him.

He shuddered to himself, with the cold but also at the thought of that.

He could hear nothing except the howl of the wind and snow and he could only hope that his parachute had opened. For if it hadn't then he was one dead man.

He could feel himself falling through the air, he was going so fast he could hardly breathe…

When would he finally reach that stupid piece of land?

"Ravess is to blame for this…she really is…" He muttered to himself as he struggled to breathe.

He was thinking of what he would say to her if he actually found her when he hit the snow-covered ground with a sickening thud.

* * *

Coughing and sputtering was all that was heard around the largest snowdrift, along with such explicit curses in Cyclonian that even some Talon veterans would blush upon hearing them.

When Ravess finally got her head out from the snow, she did nothing but cough, and curse.

Her hair was dripping wet and white, and she was soaking. All in all, she was furious. But at least she made the jump, which couldn't be said for some…

"Where is that idiot? When I get my hands on him, I swear to Atmos…" she paused, brushing snow out of her face with a shaking hand. She was shivering, and she knew that she needed to find shelter. It was simply too cold to stand about shouting her head off, and if she could even find a cave of some sort then she could wait out the blizzard, and see about those skimmers. But first to get out of this snowdrift…

"I'll kill him… once I find a cave and warm up, that is…" Ravess muttered to herself, clambering out of the four foot deep snowdrift she had crash landed in, before standing up and checking herself for any injuries she may have sustained during that said wonderful landing.

Her forehead was bleeding where she had knocked her head against the ground, one of her ankles appeared to have been sprained and she knew her back and stomach would be heavily bruised but that appeared to be it. She was lucky.

She disentangled herself from her parachute before quickly and carefully wrapping it up. She knew that it still had many uses- as a blanket when she found that cave, as a signal of some sort for any passing ships…

When she had finished, Ravess looked around. Everywhere; everything was simply covered in snow. Pure white. And the snow was still falling heavily.

She sighed. It was going to be a long night here on this Terra.

* * *

It had been thirty minutes since the landing, and Ravess, even though she hated to admit it to herself, was worried about Dark Ace. There was no sign of him.

She had found a cave a few minutes walk from where she had found herself after coming round and had settled in, doing her best to warm herself up. Her parachute had proved to be an effective blanket, and she thanked her lucky stars that she had thought of bringing it with her.

However, back to the problem in hand- one absent Ace. Ravess knew she would have to go and looked for him. If he hadn't found her here by now then…

"If you have to do something, you have to do it yourself…" she muttered to herself angrily, while walking over to the mouth of the cave she was currently in. Ravess looked outside, and once again all she saw was white. The wind was howling just as hard as before and the snow was falling even more heavier if that was even possible.

With a string of muttered curses Ravess walked out into the open, flinching as the cold struck her.

* * *

He tried to pick himself up; tried to even crawl a bit in front of him but he couldn't. It was as if his body was refusing to operate. It hurt to move his legs, and he just felt sluggish and weak. And cold. Very, very cold. The cold and wet was seeping into his clothes and he could clearly feel the icy chill all over him.

He was soaking; he knew that but he was also freezing. Dark Ace couldn't remember a time, if there had been one when he had felt so cold in his life before now.

He was half buried in a snowdrift, but that was all he knew. He could barley see; everything was white or grey but his vision was hazy and distorted. The snow was falling on him, that he knew for sure though.

He decided to try once more to move. He clenched his teeth and kicked with his legs and at the same time he moved his arms to try and get a grip on the ground.

Pain coursed through his body when he moved his legs and doubled when he moved his arms. Ace had to bite his lip in order not to shout out with pain. He struggled some move, while he could feel his strength ebbing away slowly but surely while the coldness creped up on him once more.

"Well. This is fun… Best fun I've had in ages." he muttered to himself through the pain with a sarcastic grin. God, he hurt like hell. It simply seemed to hurt all over.

He was struggling now to keep his eyes open and he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

"Story of my life…" he said weakly, before once more blacking out, snow falling around his face.

* * *

Ravess had struggled to walk through the ever-deepening snow for a while now but she refused to give up and call it a day. She wasn't going to go back to the cave empty handed after walking for so long in such horrible cold conditions! She wanted to have something to show for her efforts. That was what she did. It was, according to her _dear _brother Snipe, "how she rolled."

Anyway. Moving on.

She had carefully marked out the route she had taken so as to make sure that she wouldn't get lost. The snow had covered her tracks, but she knew where she was going and most importantly how to head back to the cave.

She kept going, on and on, endlessly or so it seemed, when her eyes managed to pick out something in the endless sea of white ahead of her.

"He really is a bloody fool…" she muttered to herself, approaching the bundle of red and black, "Really, he is. When I get over to him…" she paused in her speech suddenly, as she took in the condition of the motionless figure before her.

It didn't look good.

* * *

He faintly heard footsteps drawing nearer, and tried to raise his head but failed. It was simply too hard and so he gave up, but that didn't matter./ What did though was who was approaching. Was it that _ever-so_ charming woman, or someone (or something) else?

He chuckled weakly to himself. "It better be the latter, to save my sanity…"

Dark Ace attempted to open his eyes and thankfully that worked, however he wasn't so thankful a minute later when he saw whose face it was, staring with a worried expression on its face.

"Dear Gods… I survive all this," he gestured weakly around him to the snow and ice, "and I die by looking at your face?"

He heard a amused, yet worried chuckle. "Appears so…"

He groaned, while his eyes slowly began to close again. This wasn't happening…

* * *

Ravess carefully cleared a path through the deep snow and made her way over to the figure ahead of her.

It was Ace.

And he also appeared to be in a very, very bad way.

She crouched down beside him, and looked at him. He was pale, even more so than normal, and he had a nasty looking gash down the side of his face. It was whenever she looked down that she gasped.

Where his left leg was, there was a pool of blood. The pile of snow which covered his leg was also stained by the blood.

"Explains why you couldn't go and find me…" she whispered to herself quietly. "You couldn't walk…" Suddenly it all made sense, but had she reached him too late?

She was about to place her hand on his neck to check for a pulse when his eyes slowly began to open. They met hers.

"Dear Gods… I survive all this," he gestured weakly around him to the snow and ice, "and I die by looking at your face?"

She couldn't help it. She chuckled, but she was worried. He was saying the right words but in the wrong voice. His voice sounded weak, and that wasn't good. The sooner she got in out of the snow-covered ground and warmed up in that cave the better.

"Appears so…" she said to him, but he was already closing his eyes.

Her hand, which was near his neck changed position and went to his shoulder. She shook him, albeit carefully. She didn't want to hurt him if he was injured there. That would be just plain cruel…

He moaned, and struggled against her grip. "Go away, you horrible woman. Leave me alone!"

"Sorry, sunshine, but you need to stay awake. You're pretty fucked up!" she retorted back, trying to get him on his feet. How she was going to carrying him she had no idea. He couldn't walk…

He snorted. "Well done, yet again, Captain Obvious…" his voice trailed off again near the end and he looked ready to pass out once more.

She shook him again, slightly harder this time. He was in bad shape. But Ravess knew that she had to get him up, even if it caused him severe pain.

He moaned again. She placed one arm around his shoulders and the other around his waist. Thank Aurora he was skinny. She could maybe manage him, but certainly not someone like her brother.

Ravess carefully pulled him to his feet, wincing as the weight of him on her shoulders caused pain to shoot through her sprained ankle.

"Pull it together, it's only a sprain…" she told herself fiercely, before looking to Ace. He was barely conscious, and he was leaning against her limply.

"Dark Ace? Can you hear me?" she said, shaking the figure beside her.

He opened his eyes blearily and glared at her. "Of course I can hear you, you're screaming fit to burst into my ear…"

"Well, this is your wake-up call. You have to stay awake. I can't carry you, or walk with you if you're a dead weight, so can you at least try?" she asked him, ignoring the glare he was giving her.

"…Right…I'll try, I wouldn't want to make life difficult for you or anything, of course not." he muttered quietly in response.

She grinned to herself. At least he would try. It was a start. Maybe they could get along for a small period of time.

Ravess was interrupted in her thoughts when she heard a faint laugh come from Dark Ace.

"What on earth is so funny?"

He laughed again, coughing slightly, and said, "Your hair's all frizzy…"

Ravess rolled her eyes. Scratch that last thought, she told herself, while steadying the shaking figure beside her. They were not going to get on at all.

* * *

Somehow, the woman had actually managed to half carry, half drag him back to some cave she had found. How she did he had no idea. All that he knew as that his leg was killing him, but strangely he felt no pain anywhere else. Just numbness.

"Right, let me see your injuries, oh Great Commander. I want to clean them and see if I can try and fix that leg of yours, at least for now…" He heard Ravess speak to him but he couldn't move his head. He was just so cold all over, even though Ravess had made up a fire somehow and draped her parachute over him as a blanket. He couldn't feel pain, just cold and numbness.

"Dark Ace? Ace, can you hear me? You've stayed awake this long, you can't pass out on me now!" Ravess called out to him. He could hear the frantic note in her voice this time.

He was trying, he really was but his body wasn't obeying him. It was like it was deciding to shut down or something. He struggled to keep his eyes open. He was even finding it hard to breathe, for Aurora's sake!

"Dark Ace? Stay awake, damn it!" Her voice was closer this time. Her hand shook his shoulder for around the fiftieth time that day. Or night. He sighed. Something like that anyway…

"S'alright…" he tried to say to her, but his lips felt like ice and wouldn't form the words he wanted.

Dark Ace could feel himself shivering, almost uncontrollably and his teeth were chattering.

It was just so cold…

* * *

"Dark Ace? Stay awake, damn it!" Ravess had said to the pale and shivering man when walking over to him. His eyes were closing again at an alarming rate.

"S'it's c-c-cold…" he sighed at her.

"Wonderful observation, idiot. Just concentrate on _staying awake_!"

Her heart stopped when she heard him slurring his words. That was a bad sign. It meant that he probably had hypothermia, and he needed to be kept warm. As soon as possible. But she had a fire burning in front of him and her parachute was covering him, what else could she do?

She quickly walked over to the man and sat down beside him; shaking his shoulder once more. She looked into his half-closed eyes, and carefully pried an eyelid open. His dark red eyes had dilated pupils. She placed her hand on his neck, and felt his pulse; it was weak.

Ravess quickly thought to herself- what could she do? The only other option left to her was…

"No. No way I'm I doing that…" she muttered to herself, before realising that it had to be done.

"This will be brilliant…" she said to the barely conscious man beside her.

Ravess worked as fast as she could. She knew that she had to get his soaking uniform off him, as it would only make his body temperature decrease quicker. She tugged of the uniform, ignoring the protests from the shivering Dark Ace, and tossed it aside.

Step one completed. Now for step two.

She couldn't believe she was doing this, but it was the only thing left to her that she could do.

Ravess tugged off her own uniform and draped it around the man's shoulders. She hissed as her hands touched his freezing skin. She had to hurry…

Next, she slid underneath the parachute-blanket and wrapped her arms around the shivering body, wincing as his cold skin touched hers.

"I swear to Atmos I will never do this again…There goes my dignity!" She said to Dark Ace, who didn't hear her complains.

Ravess knew that the best way to warm up a hypothermia victim was to use your own body heat, and her uniform would have prevented her actual heat to get to his skin and warm him up.

They sat there like that for a few moments, while all the time Ravess was slowly rubbing his back with her hands. She sat in silence until she heard his voice.

"R-Ravess?" Dark Ace croaked, struggling to focus. "M's-so c-cold…" He began to shiver and jerked weakly, lashing out at her.

"Dark Ace?"

"Wh-what's…goin'…on?"

His weak voice was slurred and confused, and more than a little afraid.

"It's me, your _sweetheart, _if I remember correctly." Ravess said, trying to smile. "I'm only trying to warm you up, and to keep you warm. And while we're actually conversing to one another, I'll say this- if you utter a single word of this to _anyone _at Cyclonia, I will deny it to the grave, but I'll put you in one!"

"R-R-Ravess?" He said, still sounding confused. "S'that you..?"

"Yes," she said, worrying slightly. "We've just been over this, oh mighty one. Do try and attempt to keep up!"

"M'really c-cold…" was his only response.

She continued trying to warm him up, rubbing her hands over his chest. She knew that she had to warm his core, but not his extremities. Her hands felt the ribs along his sides and she sighed. Why did he have to be so skinny?

Dark Ace began to shiver again, which was good. It meant he was finally feeling some warmth. Ravess kept rubbing, feeling glad that she had managed to help. Wait, did I just think that? She thought suddenly. Did I just say to myself that I was glad I could help the Dark Ace?

"I'm losing it…" she muttered, feeling him shiver and shake. His teeth began to chatter but Ravess slowly began to feel heat returning to him.

* * *

He could feel coldness, but it was slowly being replaced by warmth. Thank Cyclonia for that… he thought. It was like heaven.

It hurt; him warming up; the warmth allowing him to have sensation again, but he didn't care. It was heat!

He moaned though when he felt pain coursing through him. From his leg, especially. It hurt like hell, but he did try to ignore it.

Eventually, after several minutes of him tossing and turning, moaning and jerking the pain eventually did pass and he felt warm once more. His eyes began to close again, and this time there was no poke or shake of the shoulders from that woman. Where was she, anyway?

He turned his head, and to his utter shock, she appeared to be beside him. She was the one warming him up?

She looked at him, and he looked at her.

"You just could not resist getting my clothes off, huh?" he said, sounding groggy.

Before he fell asleep, the last thought he had was- where on Atmos were his clothes?

* * *

Ravess laughed to herself. It was morning, and both her and the Dark Ace were getting ready to leave the cave and see if they could fix their skimmers. She had carefully bandaged his leg, which was broken but it seemed to be a clean break and he wasn't limping as badly as before.

The blizzard had died down during the night, and it was less cold than what it had been.

However, there was a certain awkwardness in the air, and when she remembered the look on his face when he saw her, it made her laugh all the more.

He looked at Ravess. She was grinning, and he knew why.

Better get this over with… she isn't going to bring this up, so it obviously has to be me… he thought to himself.

"Ravess, look, I'm glad you um…" he started, but suddenly found himself tongue-tied. She looked embarrassed, but smiled. Probably laughing at me again he thought angrily.

"I'm thankful for what you did, okay? Thanks and all that, but I remember that you were the one who took off my clothes and yours first…" he trailed off, relishing the look of discomfort she had.

"I won't say a thing if you don't." she said quickly.

"Deal." he said with a grin.

Watching her walk out, Dark Ace laughed to himself. Finally, I have something that could be used as blackmail over her! He thought to himself.

However, he thought, I am glad that it was her. After all, can you see Snipe doing what she did?

The mental image freaked him out so much that he picked himself up and limped as fast as he could towards Ravess.

"Better her than him. Definitely!" he said to himself.

* * *

**LOL**

**I really enjoyed writing this chapter; I loved doing all the bitchy fights between the two! it was hilarious to come up with them.**

**I have to apologise for the length though, I got carried away again. Sorry! Also, the title for this is so dumb, but I love it anyway.**

**Please review people, and maybe the Dark Ace will pop 'round to where you live and give you a hug**_**…**_


	4. Silence is Golden!

_**Hey guys! Wow, hasn't it been AGES since I last updated? Well, welcome back to "Dark Ace's Really Bad Days"! Any new guys, hello and I hope you enjoy! I actually had written this a while ago, but I have only gotten around to posting it now… This was inspired by a friend of mine having a sore throat and losing her voice…**_

* * *

"Um, Commander Ace, sir?" came the quiet and timid voice of the young talon from outside the room. He didn't dare actually enter the room; for rumour had it that the Dark Ace was in a very, very bad mood. Oh, and that he didn't wish to be disturbed. Since the man had an infamous,_ furious _temper, the Talon believed that since he was on this suicide mission he would have to take things as carefully as he was able. Which meant that all he did was hang around in the hall, outside the Commander's apartments and knock quietly and not actually enter.

The Talon heard nothing from within so he decided to call for the Commander again and hope for the best.

"Commander Ace, sir? You've been summoned to see Master Cyclonis, sir!" he said, and after he said it he began to pray that the man wouldn't kill him there and then for being disturbed.

He had wanted to run away when he had been told to go and get the Dark Ace and bring him to Master Cyclonis. But the Master and simply smiled her special, _evil _little smile when she had seen the look of horror that had passed across his face when she had told him what do to and said that he had better just go and get him.

"After all, who are you more scared of, my little servant - Dark Ace, or myself?"

He had quickly bowed and hurried out of the Throne Room to the Dark Ace's quarters, where he was now, hopping about on one foot outside the door.

And there he would have remained the entire day, if not for the opening of the door and for Dark Ace himself walking out.

"Sir-"

"I know. I did hear you, funnily enough. Master Cyclonis has sent for me." The Dark Ace quickly cut through the Talon's attempt at talking to him with a frown. He was fed up, and all he wanted to do for today was to lock himself up in his room and stay there. And not to be disturbed. But apparently the Master had decided that she really wanted to annoy him all the more and send for him.

The Talon was still there; looking up at him. Dark Ace briefly wondered if he was actually that intimidating. He opened his mouth and straight away the Talon braced himself.

So he did look that intimidating then. Whether it was always a good thing that he did, he would find that out some day. Now he had to go and see his lovely Master, and find out why she had decided to send for him at ten in the morning.

"Okay, you. You do know that you can go, right? I do happen to know my way to the Throne Room!" He said angrily to the Talon.

_After all, I have to go there at least once a day… I actually spend most of my time on Cyclonia there, or so it seems…_He thought, watching the Talon take to his heels and race down the corridor in front of him.

"This had better be something good, or I swear…" The Dark Ace muttered to himself, following the Talon down the corridor, only not in such a hasty fashion.

* * *

"Excuse me, Master? You want me to do _what_?" Dark Ace asked incredulously. _Turns out, it wasn't for something good after all…_

"Dark Ace, I do hope that you are not questioning me or my orders for you." Master Cyclonis said, with a hint of anger laced among her normally cool voice. "After all, we all know what happens to those that do. I would hate to see you among their numbers."

Dark Ace glared at the back of the cloaked ruler, thinking of as many curses as he possibly could. It was the only way he could vent his anger.

He had gone to the Throne Room and after entering and bowing as he usually did, he had asked the Master why she had sent for him. She had smiled, and had then revealed her plans for the day to him. To his horror, he found out that she was sending him out on yet another crystal mission, but that wasn't it, unfortunately.

"Master, why another "Protector of Crystals" mission? And why do I have to go with her? With Ravess?" He spat the last words out. It really wasn't fair. He knew that he sounded like a spoiled child but his honestly didn't care anymore. It was unfair. Why did the Master always give him these stupid missions? Did she enjoy it, or something? Watching him carry out tasks meant for lesser ranks than his to do?

"Dark Ace." The Master's voice as firm and would brook no complaints. "You will do this task because, how can I say it, you have failed yet _again_ with the Storm Hawks. Think of it as a punishment, of sorts. You will do this mission I have given you, with Ravess, and maybe while you do it you will understand why I am making you do it. Simply defeat the Storm Hawks the next time, as you have promised me, and then no more "Protector of Crystals" missions." her voice was now tinged with amusement.

He was right. She did enjoy dishing these missions out to him. She actually found it funny!

She was looking at him, now opening smirking.

"Ravess?" She called. The doors opened and there walked in Dark Ace's best friend…

Ravess bowed, and then looked over to the Dark Ace, who glared at her.

"Well Ravess, I have told him what to do. I trust," The Master turned to face him, "that you will do this mission?"

He stopped glaring at Ravess -who was also smirking at him- and made himself appear to be accepting of his task.

"Of course, Master." He bowed, and proceeded to walk out, with Ravess following him at his side. Soon the doors closed behind them, and Ravess burst out laughing.

"What," He said, swinging around to face her, "in the name of Atmos is so funny?"

She appeared to have difficulty in actually speaking as she was laughing so hard, but eventually she calmed down.

"The look on your face…was priceless!" She burst out laughing again, laughing harder when the Dark Ace viciously kicked a wall in his anger.

"This, will not be an enjoyable experience…" He muttered to himself, walking as fast as he could away from the laughing Ravess.

* * *

"So, Dark Ace…tell me, what does it feel like to have to work with me again?" Ravess asked the man in front of her with a smile on her face.

They were currently on their skimmers, heading towards the tiny Terra Cristallo. It was a newly discovered Terra, and so far no people had been found living there. What had been discovered though, was a large mine full with bright gold -coloured crystals. Master Cyclonis herself did not know anything about these new crystals, and if she did not know anything then who would? So that was why she had sent Dark Ace and Ravess to pick up a crateful of these crystals just for her, while the others would be sorted in a safe place until the Master discovered what these crystals where and what they could do.

She has told them both one thing worth remembering though - not to touch the crystals directly with bare skin. For since she did not know anything about them, all precautions must be taken and carried out. The crystals could be poisonous, for instance. So she had told them to wear the special gloves she had made for this occasion.

Dark Ace turned around on his skimmer easily and looked at Ravess smiling at him. She really could be such a bitch on certain days, and this appeared to be one of those days. He knew what she was getting at. The time when he had been sick with hypothermia and she had to look after him. Well, he could remind her of certain things too, if that was how she wanted to play!

"Well Ravess, I must say, it has to be difficult for you." He said, watching as her facial expression changed from one of gloating to one of confusion.

"What do you mean?" She asked, clearly confused.

"After all, the last time we were both on a mission, I seem to remember you in a…lets say, a certain state of undress…" He said, watching now as she flushed and glared at him.

"So," He continued, "it must be difficult for you to have to work with me this time with your clothes on, you see…" he finished with a smirk of his own.

Ravess was bright red at this stage, both with embarrassment and with anger. She appeared to want to say something back; but thought better of it and closed her mouth, though she was evidently mad.

"And by the way, Ravess, your face really does clash with your hair when you blush." He couldn't resist from giving her another blow to her pride. It worked, for she didn't speak at all for the rest of the ride to the Terra.

"Ah, the power of words…" He grinned to himself.

* * *

She was still mad when they reached Terra Cristallo, and she still refused to speak to Dark Ace. Not that he, of course, minded or anything.

He watched as various Talons ran around the entrance of the huge mine. It was huge - even bigger than the mines of Terra Tundras, and that was saying something. Those mines on Tundras never seemed to run out; but now this mine looked as if it would and could be used for years.

He looked over at Ravess.

"Well, what are we waiting for? The sooner we get this over with, the better…" Ravess threw him a look; refusing to talk to him. She was still mad.

"I must say Ravess, it doesn't seem right with you not talking; but they do say that "silence is golden", whoever "they" are…" He said with a laugh. He laughed a little more when he saw that Ravess actually had a smile on her face now.

"Oh come on then…I want to get this over with too, you know. No use standing around here and doing nothing!" She said with a toss of her head, sending her hair flying and around her neck.

She saw Dark Ace looked at her.

"What?"

"Trying to strangle yourself now, or something?" he said, gesturing to her hair wrapped around her neck.

Ravess sighed. "Oh shut up, you."

It appeared that they were both about to start up yet another "verbal war" with each other - so much for the apparent truce between them - when Dark Ace spotted a figure running over to them.

It appeared to be a Talon.

The Talon finally reached them and as soon as he had he saluted. "Commander Ace, sir! We have the crate of crystals for Master Cyclonis ready for you." He turned to Ravess. "Do you wish for us to carry the crate over to you or do you wish to collect it yourselves?"

Dark Ace shrugged. "Whatever is quickest…"

Ravess sighed. "That means that we should probably go and collect it ourselves; rather than let those idiots do it. We would be quicker."

The Talon nodded, not looking the least put out even though she had insulted him.

"Okay, I will lead you over then." With that, he started walking in the opposite direction, with Dark Ace and Ravess following.

They set off across the busy area, having to weave their way through the hustle and bustle. Talons running left and right, or workers racing form one place to another. It was rather chaotic and it came as a relief to both the Dark Ace and Ravess when they finally reached the entrance to the mine itself at last.

"We have left the crate inside, in a chamber we have recently built for the storage of the crystals." The Talon said to them both. "I will take you there."

"Oh good…Here's me thinking that we would have to make our own way there." Dark Ace said sarcastically. Ravess elbowed him.

"Take us there then." She said, throwing Dark Ace another look.

"Ow! You have pointy elbows, woman!" He said, with a glare.

"Stop being so moody. Just because you think that you are too high and mighty for a mission like this does not mean that you can get away with being so grumpy to everyone!" She hissed at him, following the Talon into the mine.

Dark Ace didn't even bother to reply to that. He only rolled his eyes and followed the Talon and Ravess deeper into the mine.

Eventually, after what seemed like ages, they stopped in front of a black door that had two Talons guarding it on either side.

"The crate is in here, along with the other crystals we have uncovered from the mine. They are under guard twenty-four seven, and are regularly checked on." The talon said.

"Do you have any idea yet what the crystals actually do?" Ravess asked.

The Talon shrugged. "We have a small team of scientists looking at them as we speak, but they don't know anything yet. They are hoping that the Master will find out more than what they have."

"So they _have_ found out something?" Dark Ace said, picking up on what the Talon had just said.

"Well, sir, we don't really know. They have said that the crystals could maybe remove certain senses, like seeing, and so on…or something along those lines. Other than that, they honestly do not know." The Talon said, before making the guards move aside and unlocking the door.

They walked through the door to a unexpected bright and large room. Tables and benches are places around the walls, various pieces of lab equipment scattered around on them as well as some of the gold-coloured crystals that they had been sent here to collect for the Master. There was also a small band of white-coated people who seemed to be scientists, clustered around a table right at the back of the room.

"What are they doing back there?" Dark Ace asked the Talon who had led them to here. He looked over to Ravess who shrugged her shoulders. She evidently didn't have a clue as to what they were doing over there.

The Talon frowned. "I think that they didn't expect us to be here so soon, sir, and haven't finished doing their daily tests on the crystals yet. I think it would be wise for us to leave here and wait outside until they have finished. Who knows what stupid thing they will try out on them and what would happen if they did so."

He turned and walked towards the door followed by Ravess. The Talon paused at the door.

"Are you not coming, sir?" he asked.

"I want to see what they are doing, it may be useful for telling the Master in case she asks what tests have already been carried out." Dark Ace replied. He looked at Ravess. She sighed, and walked over to him.

"I swear, if something happens I will blame you for us being here." She muttered at him with a frown as the scientists took out what looked like a Bunsen burner.

Dark Ace laughed. "What could possibly go as wrong as what happened during our last mission together?"

Famous last words, those.

* * *

How it happened, they had no idea. It just happened so suddenly. One minute they were walking towards the table, watching as a scientist held with gloved hands a fragment of the crystal to the flame of the Bunsen burner. They watched as the flames licked at the crystals, which appeared to ignore the fire, until suddenly it began to glow.

"Watch out!" The scientist holding the crystal called out to the others around him. They hastened to move away quickly, and their decision to move came not a second to soon.

The crystal exploded with a very bright gold-coloured flame that seemed to fill the whole room. It shattered and fragments were sent everywhere, causing scientists to yell and bump into each other as they tried to get away from them. Chunks of earth and wood fell from the ceiling and everyone braced themselves, ready for the worst to happen.

Luckily enough, the whole ceiling did not cave in on them but a fair amount of earth did fall down, causing many to fall to the ground.

After several minutes, the smoke from the explosion cleared and people began to pick themselves off the floor, mumbling angrily about the scientist who had thought it was a great idea to hold an unstable crystal which nothing was known about to a flame.

Ravess picked herself up with a cough. She brushed herself down, sighing as she saw that her smart uniform was ruined with the smoke and dirt. Coughing once more, she quickly brushed her hair off her face and looked around.

Some scientists were still on the floor, apparently knocked out from the explosion. However, she couldn't find the Dark Ace anywhere.

"I swear, that man invites trouble for himself…" Ravess muttered to herself, before turning around to look in the opposite side of the room.

A scientist was crouching over someone, and he called out quickly to his fellow scientists.

"Get over here! We have a problem!"

Ravess walked over, managing to be the first there. She crouched down to the scientist's level, and she was about to ask what was the matter and then she saw it for herself.

"Stupid fool…" She said, trying to mask her worry.

The Dark Ace was lying on the floor, not moving. Ravess pushed past the scientist who had found him and looked at him. He was pale but that seemed to be all that was wrong with him. She allowed herself to relax. He seemed fine; maybe he had just been knocked unconscious like others in the room had.

She turned around to face the small cluster of the white-coated men around her and say something when she heard a cough and a "What the hell…?"

Soon to be followed by a "Ravess, you do know that your ass, as lovely as it may be, is right in my face…?" She heard a snigger from the one of the scientists and she glared at the one responsible, who immediately looked to the floor.

She looked at Dark Ace. He was grinning at her and he did seem fine.

"Dark Ace…glad to see you are actually awake. Now, let's get that crate of crystals and get out of here." She said to him, before standing up and waiting for him to do the same.

Dark Ace shook his head to clear it (for it felt that everything was fuzzy) and put his hands down on the ground, and suddenly felt a small prick of pain in one of them. He lifted his left hand up and saw a piece of a gold-coloured crystal embedded the palm of his hand. He watched as the fragment of the crystal looked as though it was drowning when blood began to trickle out of the deep cut.

Ravess was looking at him with something like worry reflecting in her eyes but that was replaced with a smile instead.

"What is it, Dark Ace? Surely it doesn't take even you all that long to get up of the ground!" She said with the fake smile playing on her face. In answer he held up his hand, and was about to say something when he saw the scientist that was responsible for the explosion step forward with a gasp.

"Dark Ace, sir! Tell me you did not just touch…" His voice trailed off when he saw more clearly the piece of crystal in the Talon Commander's hand. "Oh. You did." he said, clearly deflated.

"What is the matter now?" Ravess said with a tinge of exasperation in her voice. She looked at the Dark Ace's hand and then she too stood still.

"Dark Ace, do you feel okay? Do you feel dizzy, sick, anything of the sort?" The scientist fired questions at the dark-haired man on the floor.

Dark Ace almost smiled. He felt fine, and would tell him so. He opened his mouth and began to speak, but suddenly stopped. He couldn't hear his voice…Nothing at all was coming out of his mouth…

Had he lost his voice? He tried to say something; anything; and no sound came out.

The scientists were all looking at him with fear in their eyes.

_Of course. If they had injured Master Cyclonis' right-hand man in any way…they know that she wouldn't be too happy…_Dark Ace thought.

Ravess looked at him. "Dark Ace? Can you hear us?"

He tried to speak again but gave up and instead nodded.

Ravess looked shocked. "Can you speak? If you can't, just shake your head…" She said, watching to see what would happen.

Dark Ace shook his head. He couldn't say a word! Nothing at all.

Ravess quickly pulled herself together and looked at what was the head scientist, who was at the front of the crowd of scientists.

"What has happened to the Dark Ace…" She quickly read the man's nametag on his white coat - "Dr. Tomas? How could he have been speaking one minute and not being able to say a word the next?" she finished, finding herself fearing what the answer may be. If Dark Ace had lost his voice, she could only hope it was temporarily.

_If it was permanent, then Master Cyclonis…Best not think about that now…_She thought. _Let's just concentrate on the here and now…_

"Well, Madame Ravess, I do believe that he touched the crystals…even a small shard of those crystals are incredibly powerful. We believed that they could possibly remove senses, such as seeing and hearing and so on. However, they may do more than that, as we see here with Commander Ace. They appear to do something with the part of the brain which controls talking, listening, etc and deprive you of something from that part of the brain…so that shard," here he gestured to the piece of crystal still embedded in the Dark Ace's palm, "is able to block the signals from Dark Ace's brain when he wishes to speak -"

"Yes, yes, thank you for that lesson doctor," Ravess interrupted. She was losing her patience, "but I need to know one thing and one thing only - for how long will he not be able to speak?"

Dr. Tomas sighed and shook his head. "I'm afraid that I do not know the answer to that, Madame Ravess. It could be only for a few hours, or at the most a day, but…" He trailed off.

"But?" Ravess asked rather pointedly.

"But we do not know. After all, we didn't actually know that the crystals could remove the power of speech as well as hearing and so on, so who knows if the rest of our knowledge of these crystals, as small as it may be, is correct in any way?" he sighed once more. "So I am sorry, but we do not know. He will have to wait it out."

Dark Ace, who had been listening to the conversation between Ravess and the scientist frowned and snatched in a single movement a sheet of paper and a pen of the closest desk, and began to write quickly.

Once he was finished, he poked Ravess and handed her the paper.

Ravess read it and sighed. Trust the Dark Ace to still be annoying even when he couldn't speak!

_**I really don't like being talked about as if I wasn't here! Ask him again if he has any idea as to how long this will last for…even if all he has is a rough estimate!**_

Ravess rolled her eyes and glared at Dark Ace, who simply stuck his tongue out at her.

"Mature!" Ravess hissed at him, before resuming her conversation with Dr. Tomas. Dark Ace smiled at her. She was so easy to annoy…

"Dr. Tomas, Dark Ace would like me to ask you again - are you sure that you don't have any idea as to how long his current condition will last for?" Ravess asked, and on seeing that Dr. Tomas was confused as to how she knew what Dark Ace wanted, she held up the piece of paper he had wrote on. "He wrote it down for me."

"Well, as I have said before -" he was interrupted by a sheet of paper brushing against his hand. Dark Ace, who was still sitting down, looked at the Head Scientist in such a way that he took the paper and read it quickly.

_**Seeing as you are talking about me, why not speak to me as well? If you would be so kind, that is. Of course, I don't want to put you out of your way, or anything…**_

The Head Scientist nodded and made sure that he looked at Dark Ace as well as Ravess; who, on reading the note to Dr. Tomas from Dark Ace, turned to Ace and glared.

"Will you quit being so rude! He is trying to help you!" she said angrily, before looking to the Doctor. Dark Ace rolled his eyes at her before looking at the Doctor too.

"Well Dark Ace, as I said to Madame Ravess I do not know. All I can tell you is that if you cannot talk again within a few hours, then…" Another sheet of paper was hastily written on and handed to the Head Scientist.

_**I won't be able to speak again?**_

Dr. Tomas nodded. "I'm afraid so, Commander. I am very sorry. Rest assured that I will see to it that the man responsible for the explosion of that crystal," - He looked at a certain scientist in the small cluster of the men who were still hovering around though keeping their distance; and on catching his eye, glared at him- "will be punished for it. All you can do now Commander Ace, is to wait it out, and don't try and sue any other crystals to try and help deactivate the one that caused this. It may make matters worse!"

Ravess thanked the Head Scientist and then proceeded to help Dark Ace stand up.

"Are you okay? You don't feel dizzy, or anything?" she asked him.

_Why was it that whenever they did a mission together, he ended up hurt in some way and she was the one to look after him? _She thought.

Dark Ace rolled his eyes at her. He too was thinking along the same lines, but he had to admit that he was thankful for her being there. If Snipe was there instead, well…He probably wouldn't have been as helpful as she was being right now. Even if she was acting like some type of mother hen to him.

He picked up a stack of paper and scribbled on the top sheet before handing it over to her and folding the other ones to go into his pocket.

Ravess took the proffered sheet and read it.

_**Ravess, seriously - no need to mother me. I'm fine…apart from the whole not-being-able-to-speak thing going on…But really; I am fine! Let's just take those crystals for Master Cyclonis and go. The sooner I get out of here the better!**_

She laughed and then nodded.

"Okay then, but you are not allowed to carry anything, okay?" Seeing as he was about to start protesting by written means she poked him. "I mean it. No touching anything related to crystals. Got it?" At his rather reluctant nod, she walked to the door and ordered the Talon who had led them there to send for some other Talons to come and carry the crate for them. He nodded and disappeared.

She walked back in and called out to Dark Ace.

"We're leaving!"

She waited for him to walk over before she got one of the Talon guards to lead them back to the entrance of the mine, while behind them a group of Talons carried the heavy crate full of those gold-coloured crystals.

* * *

"So, Dark Ace, I must say, it is really odd not to hear you talking…or should I say, complaining? That is what you usually do, I have to admit…" Ravess said to the man who was near her. They had gotten on their skimmers and where now heading back to Cyclonia to give Master Cyclonis her "test subjects". Ravess, even though she knew it was wrong, couldn't help but feel slightly happy at the fact that Dark Ace couldn't speak. It meant that he couldn't mock her or annoy her. She could do the same to him and for once he couldn't reply. It was heavenly!

However, when she thought of why he couldn't speak she was forced to think of the fact that he may never speak again. Ravess, although she was often angry with the man didn't want to see that happen to him, so she decided not to enjoy herself to much with her gloating.

"Like you said to me, some people do say "Silence is golden", do they not? I now know what they mean!" she laughed.

Well, she could enjoy herself a little!

Dark Ace glared at her. By Atmos, she really could be bitchy…He took out the handful of paper he had lifted of the desk from the room in the mine and began to write, and after he was finished he tossed it at Ravess' face, grinning to himself as he heard her complain loudly about it nearly hitting her eye.

_**That isn't funny, Ravess.**_

Ravess laughed again when she read the note.

"Well, you laughed when you said it to me, so why not let me laugh when I say it to you?" She said to him, watching as he rolled his eyes and snatched the paper back. He scribbled something and tossed it back at her, this time making sure that he was aiming for her eyes.

Ravess shouted angrily at him before reading what he had written.

_**That**__** isn't**__** funny, Ravess.**_

"Oh Dark Ace, smile a bit, would you?" She said to him, hiding the fact that she was worried about him. She of course would never tell him that!

She watched as he wrote again on another sheet of paper and this time she was prepared for the paper plane that headed her way. She had to admit it; she was impressed at the way he could write on a skimmer and fly at the same time. But once again, she would never tell him that!

_**Well then, let's see who is smiling when we have to go and talk to Master Cyclonis after we get back to Cyclonia! I can't wait to see your face then! You said my face was priceless last time, will it be your turn this time around?**_

Ravess looked at Dark Ace with a frown on her face. Was he trying to say that it was her fault that he couldn't speak? He was the one after all who had wanted to stay in that room when those scientists were working…

Dark Ace smiled to himself, making sure that Ravess couldn't see him doing so. Even though he couldn't speak, he could still make her be quiet! It gave him something to do, after all…

He refused to think about what would happen if his voice didn't come back. Instead he decided to concentrate on annoying Ravess as much as possible before they arrived back in Cyclonia.

_This will be fun…_he thought to himself. _Winding up Ravess is the best way to spend the time when travelling between Terras._

Dark Ace wrote quickly on another piece of paper, and quickly made yet another paper plane. He aimed carefully at the thoughtful Ravess and smiled when it hit her right on the nose.

"Dark Ace! Would you please stop doing that? It does hurt!" She shouted at him. He merely rolled his eyes and smiled more when she replied with a well-known hand gesture.

He shook his head as if to say "Now, now, Ravess, no need for that!"

Ravess decided to ignore him and instead read the latest note from him.

_**Ravess loves me, this I know;**_

_**Even though she doesn't tell me so…**_

"Dark Ace!"

If he had been able to laugh; hell, he would have laughed for ages at that.

* * *

Dark Ace grinned to himself. This had proved to be the best fun he had had in a while…

He had thrown paper balls at her head, or made more paper planes. But the best thing he had done so far was writing continuous notes that said:

_**Are we there yet?**_

He decided to throw another note saying that at Ravess once more and she how she would react to the fifth message that was the same. He wrote down the message, folded it up rather neatly and tossed it at Ravess.

Who sighed and wearily began to open it. She has decided to stop shouting at him and had instead taken up an "appeasement" type of action.

Even so, when she read what he had written she felt that if they didn't reach Cyclonia within the next ten minutes, she would end up either pushing him of his skimmer or jumping out of hers.

_**Are we there yet?**_

"Dark Ace!"

* * *

They had finally reached Cyclonia, and so Ravess did not have to push Dark Ace of his skimmer or thrown herself of hers. She was however, worried about how she would tell Master Cyclonis that her favourite Talon as not able to speak. How would the Master react? She knew that she would be furious, to say in the very least. All she could do would be to tell the Master that there was a chance that he could speak again and also that none of this was her fault. She could only hope that Master Cyclonis would punish the scientist responsible and not her.

Dark Ace looked over at Ravess. He knew that she was worried about meeting the Master; knew that she was worried that she would get blamed for his…voicelessness. But he would make sure that she wouldn't get into trouble for that because after all, it really wasn't her fault.

He decided to go over to her and tell her that. Oh wait…he couldn't…With sigh, he reached into his pocket for more paper and began to write. When he had finished he handed the message over to her.

"Another silly and annoying little note, Dark Ace?" Ravess sighed; not taking the letter but letting it stay in his hand. She was fed-up with the messages from him and she blamed herself for the fact that he had to write in order to communicate; even if it was for something stupid.

She was surprised, however when he shook his head, and offered her the letter again. When she still did not take it, he reached for her hand and placed it on her palm. Ravess saw the bandage on his hand as he did so and when she remembered what it was for she felt more upset. He looked at her and pointed at her and then to the note.

"You really want me to read this, don't you?" Ravess asked him. Dark Ace nodded, and pointed at the note again.

Ravess slowly opened the note and began to read it, with Dark Ace standing beside her as she did so.

_**Ravess, look - I don't blame you for what happened. It wasn't your fault and you could have done nothing to have prevented it from happening. I know you; so I know that you are beating yourself up over this and worrying about what Master Cyclonis will say. Don't worry about it - I will tell her (somehow) that none of this was your fault and you are not to blame. It is my fault, because I did not look at the floor when I put my hands down and I wasn't wearing those stupid gloves! So stop blaming yourself and start acting like the annoying woman that you are!**_

Ravess laughed. She couldn't help it. Dark Ace, even without a voice could still be annoying, yes, but he was still blunt and managed to make the words have a voice of their own. She looked at him.

"Thank you…" She couldn't say anything else, but he understood.

"No problem…" he said, and then he stopped. Ravess looked at him.

"Dark Ace…did you just say something?" she said, sounding excited.

"Well, I opened my mouth and words came out so yes, I believe that means that I said something." He said with a smirk. His throat hurt and his voice sounded very weak but so what? He could speak again!

Ravess laughed with sheer relief.

"Shut up, you! Come on, we have to go and talk to the Master!" She said, and for once she smiled at him with no gloating or malice there.

He rolled his eyes at her with a smile.

"Why are you so happy that I can talk again, Ravess? Did you miss me talking?" he asked her as they walked down to the Throne Room.

"Of course not. "Silence is golden", remember?" she replied.

He laughed. "Sure…sure…I think you missed me, because after all…" he said, taking out a piece of paper and giving it to her. "Read it!"

Ravess took the paper and read what was there, wondering why the man started to laugh as she did.

_**Ravess loves me, this I know;**_

_**Even though she doesn't tell me so…**_

"Dark Ace!"

* * *

**Wow, that was long! But then again I haven't updated this in ages so I thought, why not go on for a bit longer than what I usually do?**

**I loved this…it made me laugh so much writing it! I had never intended for any of the one -shots in "Dark Ace's Really Bad Day's" to have a pairing in them, but I suppose that you can get a DA/Ravess pairing if you wish out of this now **

**Well folks, please review and let me know if you liked or disliked, and if you actually still like these one-shots! **


End file.
